Air Pollution Exposure during Pregnancy, Depression/Anxiety Symptoms, and Conduct/Aggressive Problems in Children in Eight European Cohort Studies

Background: Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy may increase several behavior problems, including depression/anxiety or conduct/aggressive problems in children, but findings have been inconsistent. We aimed to study this association in a collaborative study of eight European predominantly urban population-based birth/child cohorts, including 13,376 mother–child pairs from thirteen geographic areas.Methods: Air pollution concentrations( nitrogen dioxide(NO2) and particulate matter) during pregnancy were estimated at the pregnancy addresses by land-use regression models based on monitoring campaigns performed between 2008 and 2011. Parents assessed depression/anxiety symptoms and conduct/aggressive problems at 8-12 years of age. We combined all adjusted area-specific effect estimates using random-effects meta-analysis and multiple imputation and applied inverse probability weightingmethods to correct for loss to follow-up.Results: We classified a total of 1,625 children as having depression/a...